My Wandering Swordsman

He wore a greyish-blue robe, a plain black belt, a small black gauze hat, and even carried a whisk...

The Flower Monk revealed his own version, which was exactly the same.

He paused for two seconds, then burst out laughing: "Well, the day before yesterday it was like a haha ​​bead, at least you had a thing in your crotch. But today, you're really a eunuch."

That's right, the crew gave us standard eunuch attire from the Qing Dynasty.

The person handed out the clothes and left, so I didn't feel comfortable arguing with them and just quietly changed into them.

After that, we extras went into the filming location.

This time it wasn't the Hall of Supreme Harmony; the stagehand led us into a side hall.

The courtyard is quite large, paved with blue bricks, and on both sides are covered walkways with three large gilded characters on the plaques:

Qifeng Palace.

At this time, the courtyard was already filled with many extras, including palace maids, guards, nannies, and several women dressed as noblewomen.

Once everyone was almost present, the assistant began explaining the scene to the extras, following the established procedure.

Today's play is roughly like this:

The eldest prince's consort was falsely accused by several other consorts of practicing witchcraft in the palace. Upon learning of this, the empress personally led a group to Qifeng Palace to confront her...

In summary, it's a drama between the Grand Princess and the Empress.

As for us extras, we played the roles of servants in Qifeng Palace.

At the Empress's command, everyone in the palace except for the Grand Empress Dowager was to be arrested. In order to ensure the dramatic effect and stir the audience's emotions, three eunuchs from Qifeng Palace were also arranged to be pinned to benches and beaten on the spot.

After hearing this, the Flower Monk laughed so hard he almost fell over, slapping his thigh and shouting:

"Hahaha, this drama is too melodramatic! The imperial concubine is being bullied, and someone has to stand by and get beaten with a stick as accompaniment? Does she have to shout and beg for mercy? Hahaha—"

Liu Zi gently poked his lower back with his finger.

"Brother Hailong, look at the clothes you're wearing..."

The monk glanced down, completely unconcerned: "So what if you're a eunuch? It's just acting, nothing shameful. The eunuchs getting beaten are the real idiots, hahaha."

He laughed for a few moments, then suddenly stopped.

The monk discovered that in the vast Qifeng Palace courtyard, there seemed to be only the three of us dressed in eunuch robes.

His eyes widened and widened, his lips opened and closed, but all his words ultimately boiled down to one sentence:

"Hold!"

After all that joking, it turns out the three unlucky guys who got spanked were us.

I became more cautious, and the more I thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

Logically speaking, when the Empress confronts the Imperial Concubine to interrogate her, whether it's to make an example of her or to extract a confession through torture, given their respective statuses, she should simply use her methods directly on the Imperial Concubine.

Even if they really wanted to make an example of someone, they would have to target some high-ranking palace maids and matrons, not just three junior eunuchs.

It doesn't make logical sense.

What interests me more is the boy who handed out the clothes to us.

That guy seemed to have been waiting for us specifically; out of all the extras, he only gave the three of us eunuch costumes.

With all these unusual signs combined, the answer is almost obvious...

We were being unfairly targeted by Assistant Director Wang; he did it openly and blatantly.

That bastard still can't let go of what happened yesterday. Today, he wants to use filming as an excuse to make us suffer a bit.

This principle is not difficult to understand.

The monk reacted a few seconds later than me, his teeth grinding together.

"That damn Assistant Director Wang, I'm going to beat him up!"

I quickly reached out and grabbed him: "Don't be impulsive. We don't have any evidence. If we just start a fight, wouldn't that make us thugs? We might end up in jail."

The monk was so anxious he stamped his feet: "No, what should we do? Do we really have to take this beating?"

Liu Zi was still in shock, blinking as he asked, "Brother, don't get excited. It's just filming, it's just a prop. It won't hurt if it hits you."

"What kind of props are you using!"

The Flower Monk pointed to three constables in the distance.

In the southeast corner of the courtyard, three men dressed as yamen runners were standing with fire sticks, staring at us with hostile expressions.

Liu Zi saw the three gleaming fire and water sticks and fell silent.

The Flower Monk was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Brother Ji, why don't we just stop acting? Let's leave and do whatever we want."

I almost nodded.

It's really not worth getting beaten up for a few dollars as an extra.

Moreover, that's a damn fire and water stick; if you get hit dozens of times, you'll either die or be crippled.

But just as I was about to speak, I glanced out of the corner of my eye into the hall and saw a row of round, thick prayer cushions placed in front of the incense table facing the entrance.

My eyes lit up.

Got it!

I put my arm around Liu Zi's shoulder and pointed into the hall, "Liu Zi, see that?"

Liu Zi squinted and looked at it: "It's a prayer cushion. My brother's temple is full of those things, for kneeling and kowtowing."

"Go on, use your old skills to bring us three over."

"You mean..."

"Yes!" I nodded emphatically. "We'll put the futon under our butts, so we won't be afraid of getting hit as many times as we want."

Although these three constables looked fierce, they were, in the end, just ordinary people, fundamentally different from the professional yamen runners who used to beat people with sticks in ancient times.

Legend has it that in the past, when old yamen runners used a board to beat meat, the meat would break into pieces while the tofu remained intact...

These three people certainly don't have any fancy skills that can penetrate paper; even if they use their full strength, it's just brute force. As long as they sit on the prayer mat and take the beating, it won't hurt them at all.

The Flower Monk slapped his thigh: "Great idea! Liu Zi, go!"

Liu Zi didn't hesitate and slipped over while crouching low.

There were many people in the courtyard, and none of them knew each other, so this kind of work was a piece of cake for Liu Zi.

In less than two minutes, he returned with three prayer cushions stuffed in his clothes, his face not flushed and his breath coming in easily.

We quickly slipped to the back of the side hall, each of us took one and stuffed it into the back of our buttocks. The eunuch's robes were already loose, so you couldn't tell anything from the outside.

When we returned to the filming location, the crew was already counting the actors.

"On your marks! Quiet! Act one, get set."

All actors took their designated positions in turn.

"Are the lights ready?"

"Recording ready."

"Alright—Action!"

At his command, the courtyard fell silent.

I held my breath, my eyes fixed on the direction of the doorway. According to the script, the Empress would storm into Qifeng Palace, surrounded by a group of palace servants.

Footsteps sounded, and palace maids and eunuchs filed in, lining up on both sides.

"Her Majesty the Empress has arrived!"

All the actors knelt down in unison.

A figure in bright yellow strolled in; it was the Empress of this play. The casting was excellent, and the presence was commanding.

Then, the Grand Princess appeared.

Your subject respectfully welcomes Your Majesty.

A pleasant voice came from inside the hall.

I instinctively turned my head and saw a woman in gorgeous clothes slowly emerge from the Qifeng Palace and bow gracefully to the Empress.

She wore a purple Manchu court robe, her features were dignified, her skin was so white it was almost translucent, and her jet-black hair was styled with a gold hairpin, making her...

I didn't have time to examine my makeup closely.

I just saw this face yesterday.

Auntie?!

My mind went completely blank.